For first time cruisers, choosing your first cruise can make or break whether you love this holiday style. If you decide to go down the travel agent route, they’ll give you a list of questions to determine the cruise line, fit for the destination.
But there are many other factors to consider for your first cruise: the cabin, the itinerary, the shore excursions, and even the additional packages.
Lucky for you, we’ve put together a handy guide to ensure your first cruise goes without any hiccups.
As the cruise industry has grown, so have the offerings. There is something to suit everyone’s taste – whether you’re travelling with the kids, grandma, and grandpa, if you’re on a budget, or if you want something super opulent.
Make sure you do your research – whether it be speaking to friends or family members who have cruised or speaking to a travel agent to navigate through the options.
When first time cruisers do their research, make sure you understand the demographics of each cruise line, during the year as well as the itinerary. It comes as no surprise that, for obvious reasons, during the school holidays, you’ll find more kids sailing.
If you are looking for a destination-specific cruise, like if you want to explore the Arctic or Antarctica, then it is also important to pick the right cruise line for your budget, and the differences between each line.
But perhaps if seasickness and the number of people are issues, consider taking a river cruise where you are always close to land and these ships won’t have more than 180 people onboard.
Find out more information in our guide to first-time cruisers.
First Time Cruisers Tips
-
Tips to stay ship-shape at sea
He’s Carnival’s newest ambassador and his mission is to keep cruisers fit at sea. The spotlight is on The Biggest Loser trainer, Shannan Ponton, in the latest issue of Cruise Passenger magazine, which is out on newstands today. He shared a range of easy-to-do activities and revealed the secrets to staying fit at sea. 1.…
-
Amazing predictions: this is the future of travel
A virtual air hostess; an electronic travel buddy; body-morphing aircraft seat; and a self-operating revolutionary Siri that automatically creates holiday plans when she feels like you need one. If it wasn’t clear, we’re heading into a new world that relies entirely on electronic devices to survive. But it won’t just be our day-to-day lives that…
-
10 ways to reduce your data roaming bill
You may be on holidays but you still need to keep in contact with family and friends. Whether it’s to let them know you’re okay or making them jealous with holiday pics on Facebook – staying in contact can be pricey. When you access your mobile phone overseas, you’re no longer using your service provider’s…
